Conventionally, a so-called commercial printing business, that receives an order of a creation request of prints (magazine, newspaper, brochure, advertisement, gravure, etc.) from a third party (customer, client), creates prints desired by the client, and delivers them to the client so as to get a reward, still prevalently uses a large-scale printing device such as an offset prepress & printing press and the like today. Such printing business proceeds with operations via various steps such as document acceptance, design & layout, comprehensive layout (presentation by means of printer output), proofing (layout correction & color correction), proof print, artwork preparation, print, post-process, shipping, and the like. Artwork preparation is mandatory for use of the aforementioned printing press, and once an artwork is prepared, it is not easy and is disadvantageous in terms of cost to correct it. Hence, elaborate proofing, i.e., layout checking and color confirmation operations are indispensable. In this manner, such printing business requires a large-scale device, and takes considerable time to create prints desired by clients. However, these operations require expert knowledge, i.e., know-how of experts called craftsmen.
Meanwhile, in recent years, along with the advent of high-speed, high image quality electrophotographic printing devices and ink-jet printing devices, a so-called print-on-demand (POD) market prevails as competition with the aforementioned printing business. That is, this market aims at handling a huge number of copies and a huge number of jobs within a short delivery period without any large-scale device or system, and implements digital prints using digital data by fully utilizing a digital image forming device such as a digital copying machine, digital multi-function peripheral, and the like in place of the large-scale printing press and printing scheme, so as to do business. Such POD market merges digitalization compared to the conventional printing business, effectively utilizes computerized management and control, and makes an attempt to reach the printing business level using computers. In such situation, PFP (Print For Pay) as a print service of a copy/print shop, CRD (Centralized Reproduction Department) as an in-house print service, and the like are known in the POD market.
Note that Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-122538 is known as an application that pertains to the POD market.
However, the aforementioned printing business and POD market consider to provide a service that combines all services from ordering of commercial products to packaging, shipping, after service, inventory control, and cash receipt control to have prints as commercial products, but there is still room for more consideration.
In the aforementioned printing business and POD market, a system that supports business planning and management works via acquisition, processing, and reporting of production-related data, accumulates information, and provides the accumulated information to respective departments as needed has been examined, but it is still difficult to realize and manage an optimal system.
Also, in the aforementioned POD market, skilled persons are unemployable compared to the conventional printing business under the existing situation, and demands have arisen to complete jobs at low cost, to do business with fewer investments, to reduce TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), and so forth. However, such demands are not sufficiently met due to a new marketplace, and problems for solution still remain.